Magnetite

by K.A.H.

Part 1: Introduction - Birds

As I have read through the C's transcripts, there are many things that have been rambling around in my mind regarding magnetite and its possible to connection to such things as DNA and supernovae, and its possible role in the Ascension process.

Strange as it may sound, it was two little birds that led me down this trail. We have quite a few of them living around our house. I think they're finches, but I'm not entirely sure. They perch on our rose bush in the garden in front of our house in the morning. I often go out there to have my coffee and watch and listen to them. They sure do chatter up a storm. I've tried to get close to them on several occasions, with offerings of bread crumbs to entice them towards me, but they always flutter away.

However, one day about 3 weeks ago, I was sitting in my office facing the side of the window that was open, and two of these birds perched on the railing. They looked straight at me and began chattering away like you wouldn't believe. I laughed silently to myself, not wanting to frighten them away, and stopped what I was writing to watch them. They chirped for a while more, still looking directly at me most of the time, and then one of them got a footing on the window screen. He (she) looked right at me again and began to chirp frantically. I asked him, "What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me something, little one?" He held his position and his gaze, and chirped some more. I found this somewhat unusual since normally, the sound of my voice would send these little creatures to flight. But these two stayed. They then moved to the other side of the window, and the one began tapping at the window with its beak. I stood up and moved the curtain aside slowly, so as not to frighten him. He turned his head and looked at me. Then, tap, tap, tap, some more! Eventually, the pair flew away, but came back about a half an hour later to go through the whole routine again. After that, they never returned.

But, my curiosity had been aroused. My previous experience with these birds told me that this was very strange behavior for them. Were they trying to tell me something? I didn't know, but I did want to find out more about them. So, after a few essentially fruitless internet searches, I opened up my encyclopedia on the paranormal to see if they had a listing for birds there.

They did. It reads:

BIRDS: (See MAGNETISM) Birds have always symbolised the transcendent and spiritual. Winging free between heaven and earth they represent: the soul; the divine manifestations; spirits of the air; spirits of the dead; and the ability to communicate with gods or enter higher states of consciousness. They have been messengers and guides; their wings adorn angels, the heels of Mercurius, and the Ghost Dance costumes of nineteenth-century Native Americans. In shamanistic journeys, a bird-robe may be worn to aid the flight of the soul; in Egypt, the human-headed bird represented the power of the soul (ka) to take wing from the body at will.

The symbolism is dual. Storks may bring new-born babies, but flocks of starlings or a raven beating against the window may presage death. Plato says a cage of birds represents the mind; and though 'A little bird told me a secret', the claws of the Harpies tore folk to pieces. The ancient Irish war goddesses were collectively called badb (pron. bive), meaning 'rage' or 'violence', epitomised by the hooded crow rending battle carrion. Large birds are often identified with solar, thunder and wind gods - beating wings; the storm, tongues; the lightening. By settling, they confer divine power on the World Tree, and they are often used to symbolise the State. Ironically, the symbol of the USA, the bald-headed eagle, is now threatened with extinction by the dark side of our attitude to birds. The urge to fly vies with the urge to bring down and eat what flies.

But the mystery of birds lies in the birds, not in our symbols. REPTILIAN [emphasis mine], they lack mammalian cortex and mid-brain, but fly on what in humans survives as the cerebellum or old brain, the seat of instinctual behaviour. Obeying it, some birds annually migrate thousands of miles to a precise location, steering by sun and moon. They need not even have been that way before. In North America, the indigo bunting finishes nesting in August; late in September, the adults depart for Brazil, leaving many chicks behind to make their own way, which they do quite well, flying by night, sheltering by day. They fly by night to avoid predators, but also because they respond to the North Star and navigate by it, ignoring all others. The cerebellar programme leads them all the way.

[This is the interesting bit.] Birds are biologically sensitive to the Earth's weak MAGNETIC FIELD [emphasis mine]. Robins caged just before migration perch facing their destination, even in a blackout, but are disorientated by distortion of the surrounding magnetic field. BETWEEN THE EYES of the homing pigeon, able to wing 1,000 kilometers straight home even if blinded by frosted glass contact lenses, lies a tissue containing over a million BAR-SHAPED lumps of MAGNETITE (lodestone), a permanently magnetised mineral of iron, anciently used as a crude compass - sufficiently sensitised for the bird to detect variations in the magnetic field. That the magnetite works as a compass is unproven; no neural pathways have been traced. But pigeons with bar magnets strapped to their backs get lost, while those carrying an equivalent, but non-magnetic brass bar get home as usual.

Tests on humans show WE TOO POSSESS THIS 'FIELD SENSE' as, probably, to varying degrees, does all life within Earth's magnetic field. But given its poor sense of smell, the bird's 'field sense' has to be as highly developed as its cerebellar programming. The effect of both is seen in flock behaviour. A warning message flashes through the flock in an instant: all take wing AS ONE ENTITY. A flock of starlings darts and dives as one entity. Motion of one is the motion of all. There is a meaning in it that escapes us. They fly naturally, we only imitate; they respond to currents we barely sense, yet we seek those currents, FEELING OURSELVES ENCAGED. [end quote]

William Blake wrote, "How can the bird that is born for joy, sit in a cage and sing?"  

There is more meaning in those words than perhaps Blake ever realized. Indeed, how CAN our souls, which are meant to be soaring freely, sit in this cage and sing? Granted, it a sad song most of us sing. A rather poor imitation of the one we are really capable of singing, but we still sing. Why is this so? Because until recently, we did not even know we were in a cage. We did not have the knowledge that we could soar. We believed that we were already free.

So we sang. We carried on life as usual. Until one day, someone opened up the door of the cage, ever so slightly, and when we understood that we could push that door open just a little bit more with our beaks, we did so, and then again and again, until the door, at last, stood wide open. Then we looked out onto the world and marveled at its expanse and diversity, unblemished by those cold, hard bars. At first, we were afraid to step out. Afraid to test our wings. Afraid of what we might find out there. There might be something dangerous out there. It was safe in the cage.

But a new found curiosity had been born. We began to thirst for the knowledge of this new world beyond the bars of our cage. We decided to take the risk, and we took flight. We soared into the wonder of the universe and were amazed at what we found. There was joy and sorrow. Light and darkness. The sweet and the bitter. There was every imaginable experience. And with this experience came something we had never really known before. True Knowledge.

Sitting there in our little cage, our little world, we had thought we had known all we could know. We didn't realize, until that fateful day when we took that first step out of the cage, how truly static and illusory our idea of reality had been. But that step had been taken, shattering the illusion, and there was no going back. Nor did we want to, for even though we encountered fearful things in this new world, we also encountered many wonders, and we slowly but surely realized that the knowledge of this true diversity was what makes the world so magnificent. And with this realization, we began to sing. To really sing. To sing the True Song of our True Selves. At long last, understanding who we really were and who we could become. Where we were and where we could go.

And go we did. After seeing all there was to see in the new world, we continued on our journey and went in search of yet more new worlds. We flew and flew, higher and higher, singing our new song, ever ascending into the heavens until we could go no further. Until we reached . . . Eternity.

Part 2 - General Definition

Is there something that has the potential to assist and/or guide us on our journey, our migration from this density to the next? Something apart from our teachers? I think perhaps so, and at least one of those things may be that which appears to help guide the birds on their migrations. Magnetite.

Magnetite has many special properties. Aside from being magnetic, it is also a CRYSTAL. A power source, in other words. An electromagnetic power source. Below is some general info I found on several web sites.

The Mineral Magnetite

http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/oxides/magnetit/magnetit.htm

Chemical Formula: Fe3O4, Iron Oxide
Class: Oxides and Hydroxides
Group: Spinel
Uses: Major ore of iron and as mineral specimens

Magnetite is a natural magnet, hence the name, giving it a very nice distinguishing characteristic. Explaining the magnetism is not easy, but here is a go at it. Remember, ELECTRICITY PRODUCES MAGNETIC FIELDS just as MAGNETISM PRODUCES ELECTRIC FIELDS. Magnetite is a member of the spinel group which has the standard formula A(B)2O4. The A and B represent usually different metal ions that occupy specific sites in the crystal structure. In the case of magnetite, Fe3O4, the A metal is Fe +2 and the B metal is Fe +3; two different metal ions in two specific sites. This arrangement causes a transfer of electrons between the different irons in a structured path or vector. This electric vector generates the magnetic field.

Physical Characteristics:

Color: black.
Luster: metallic to dull
Transparency: Crystals are opaque.
Crystal System: isometric; 4/m bar 3 2/m

[one site called the crystal system "isometric hexoctahedral and showed an image of this crystal. It looked like two PYRAMIDS attached together at their foundations. Mirror images of each other. KAH]

Crystal Habits: typically octahedrons, but rarely rhombododecahedron and other isometric forms, most commonly found massive or granular. TWINNING of octahedrons into spinel law twins is seen occasionally.

Cleavage: absent although octahedral parting can be seen on some specimens.
Fracture: conchoidal.
Hardness: 5.5 - 6.5
Specific Gravity: 5.1+ (average for metallic minerals)
Streak: Black
Best Field Indicators: magnetism, crystal habit and streak.
Associated Minerals: talk and chlorite (schists), pyrite and hematite.
Other Characteristics: MAGNETISM STRONGER IN MASSIVE EXAMPLES THAN IN CRYSTALS, striations on crystal faces (not always seen).

Notable Occurrences: South Africa, Germany, Russia, USA (Michigan, Utah), France, Germany, Norway, Finland, Brazil, Isle of Ischia, near Naples, Compania, Italy.

Misc.: The name comes from the ancient name Magnesia, in Asia, an ancient region bordering on Macedonia. It is now in Turkey. [Editor's note: Magnesia is a subject of much discussion by the alchemist, Fulcanelli.]

Other sites for more info:

http://webmineral.com/data/Magnetite.shtml

http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blmagnetite.htm

http://simplethinking.com/dunn/ch22/magnetite.stm

Part 3 - Lodestone in the Brain

I always knew that obtaining knowledge was important, and I have always enjoyed doing so. What I did not realize is what exactly happens during this process on both a physical and spiritual level and that the degree of its importance was much, much, higher than what I had ever imagined it to be before. I realize that what I am doing here in going through my thought processes as I write, is that I am actually "fusing" as I do this. Firing up the magnetite in my brain is definitely "electrifying"! To put this all together and come to grips with its significance is literally stunning. Learning is, indeed, fun! Fusion is fun!

Anyway, to begin. A couple of things caught my eye in the passage I quoted from the encyclopedia in Part 1. Namely:

"BETWEEN THE EYES of the homing pigeon, able to wing 1,000 kilometers straight home even if blinded by frosted glass contact lenses, lies a tissue containing over a million BAR-SHAPED lumps of MAGNETITE (lodestone), a permanently magnetised mineral of iron, anciently used as a crude compass - sufficiently sensitised for the bird to detect variations in the magnetic field."

And then,
 
"Tests on humans show WE TOO POSSESS THIS 'FIELD SENSE' [*see bottom of message for links to studies indicating this] as, probably, to varying degrees, does all life within Earth's magnetic field. But given its poor sense of smell, the bird's 'field sense' has to be as highly developed as its cerebellar programming. The effect of both is seen in flock behaviour. A warning message flashes through the flock in an instant: all take wing AS ONE ENTITY. A flock of starlings darts and dives as one entity. Motion of one is the motion of all. There is a meaning in it that escapes us. They fly naturally, we only imitate; they respond to currents we barely sense, yet we seek those currents, FEELING OURSELVES ENCAGED."

Keep the bits in mind about bar-shaped lumps of magnetite in tissue between the eyes of the birds, and about humans possessing this same sensitivity towards the magnetic field, as you read this section of the Cs transcripts.
 
June 20, 1998
http://www.cassiopaea.org/sessions/980620.html

Q: First question: okay, this book, The Key, by Cohane, is talking about a rock drawing in the Hoggar region of the Sahara; there is a figure of this man on these rock drawings surrounded by these various other figures; the man is pictured without a face. Where his face should be THERE ARE PARALLEL BROWNISH BLACK LINES [emphasis KAH] that look like two things, the slats of a bed or the grill of a barbeque. Then, it says that "in the West Indies, and throughout North America, the Indians had, as one of their most vital implements, a device that served as both bed and as a cooking utensil. It consisted of an oblong metal frame, three feet high, with SLATS OR BARS [emphasis KAH] across the framework much like the slats of a modern bed. The Indians cooked their meat on this grill over an open fire, and then, when the fire had died down, they wrapped themselves in their blankets and slept on the grill above the embers. To nomadic people, this object was the VERY CENTER OF THEIR LIFE [from here forward, all capitals are my own emphasis. KAH]. On this device, they not only cooked and slept, but also begot children. Out of this simple invention came what we today call a barbecue." Anyway, the thought that came to my mind as I read was the idea of the MAGNETITE IN THE BRAIN AND THE REPRESENTATION OF THE DARKENED BARS ACROSS THE FACE OF THIS GOD FIGURE AS BEING SYMBOLIC OF IRON MAGNETITE, AND SOME KIND OF ENERGY TRANSITION GOING ON IN THE HEAD. Can you comment on this idea?
A: We need you to be more specific, if you please.
Q: Well, do the dark lines represent a) iron or b) the magnetite of the iron?
A: Seldom are answers so readily obtainable as in the "key" book.
Q: You got that right! It blew me away! So, in other words, the answer was very close to the description of the barbecue?
A: Interesting that they should mention "barbeque", as the lines described could very well denote the effects of the "grill" after one's face has been pressed upon it, while the fires burned underneath!
Q: What would be the source of such fires? The nature of the fires?
A: Firewalkers could tell you that.
Q: What is the nature of the grill? IS IT AN EXTERNAL IRON OBJECT, OR AN INTERNAL EFFECT OF IRON?
A: BOTH.
Q: Why would this be represented as dark lines across the face?
A: When one is shamed, one is no longer seen, ONLY SEES....
Q: Are you saying that this is a representation of hiding one's face in shame?
A: MORE LIKE BEING HIDDEN.
Q: What figure did this god represent that had these lines drawn across the face?
A: The figure was MORE COLLECTIVE than individual.
Q: So, it was a collective rather than an individual god...(C) How do you know it was a god? (L) Because it was...well, we don't. It was just that the size was so huge. Was it one of the Nephilim?
A: When it comes to the Nephalim, references all point to a unified legend.
Q: Was this figure the fertility god of the Hoggar region?
A: Better study more material relating to Mediterranean region, particularly Malta.

Then there is this, also from the transcripts:

December 5, 1998
http://www.cassiopaea.org/sessions/981205.html

Q: Okay, M*** asks further: The six mountains at Rennes-le-Chateau form a natural PENTAGON surrounded by a circle. This reminds me of ancient spell-casters surrounding themselves with a circle when summoning spirits or demons. Was this area set up as a giant gateway or place of summoning?
A: Gateways occur where the conditions are right.
Q: Is this area a gateway?
A: Window.
Q: If it is, do the five surrounding peaks contain or shield whatever...
A: Contain is o.k.
Q: So, he is right, it does contain. Does this have to do with Atlantean technology and energy production?
A: In an offhand way.
Q: Are there other significant natural formations that follow similar patterns that we should be looking for?
A: Yes, of course. And they are numerous. Monument Valley is but one example. [**See below for links and information on Monument Valley.]
Q: Well, on the same subject: did Abbe Saunier put clues in the Stations of the Cross in the Church at Rennes-le-Chateau?
A: Some, but they are gilded.
Q: What do you mean by that?
A: You will see.
Q: Does the message involve all the Stations of the Cross?
A: Just look. Now, folks, remember: RENNES-LE-CHATEAU IS A MEANS, NOT AN END. Sort of like unlocking the trunk, expecting to find the GOLD, and merely finding a MAP.
Q: So, when you said 'template, Templar', you were possibly referring to the fact that what was going on here, the constructions, the name and word clues, and even the events and incidents may have been a model that we should LOOK FOR IN OTHER PLACES?
A: TEMPLES too.
Q: What is the...
A: What is behind your TEMPLES?
Q: Behind, in a general sense? The creators, the instigators? The church?
A: Place your fingers upon...
Q: What do you put your fingers on that has to do with a temple? Place your fingers on your temple? On your head? What is behind your temple? Your brain...
A: Which part?
Q: Well, the TEMPORAL LOBE....the part of the brain where MAGNETITE is found.
A: Yes.
Q: So, what are you getting at here?
A: We are not, you will.
Q: So, the instruction or clues found in this place, may, in fact, apply to some other location? Is that it?
A: Or to a GRID [i.e. BARS, LINES - OF MAGNETITE, WHICH ALL OF US POSSESS INDIVIDUALLY?? PLUS, THE EARTH'S OWN MAGNETIC GRID/FIELD? AS ABOVE, SO BELOW?]
Q: Was Saunier aware of this grid?
A: It is not important, the grid is.
Q: What I am trying to get at is, if he was aware of it, he might have put clues about it in his decorations in the church.
A: Who says?
Q: He wrote across the doorway of the church: Terribilis locus est, or This is a Terrible Place.
A: And some have put: "Biohazard" where they store riches. 
Q: What grid are we talking about? An EM grid...
A: Yes. Meridians....

So, we have here what seems to be an indication that we do have this magnetite in common with the birds, and that it is located in our temporal lobe - the "temple" of the human being. It is also found outside of our bodies, deposited at certain locations around the world, some of which may or may not function as "windows" or "portals" to transfer back and forth between 3rd and 4th densities. It is my thought that 3D STS oriented gangs may use, or wish to use, these locations, or "windows" (such as exists at Renne-le-Chateau, Monument Valley, etc.), to conduct their business with the 4D STS crew, as well as use them as escape hatches to 4D in the event of a cataclysm. Something else that occurred to me is that perhaps also, some of these "windows" are located at certain intersections of the earth grid.

I think the Cs are letting us in on this little secret so that we, too, may have an "escape hatch", if and when the time comes. The big difference, however, is that "STO tends to do the process within the natural flow of things. STS seeks to alter creation processes to fit their ends."  It seems that the STS groups are also aware of this inner route, and work actively to access it in artificial or ritualistic ways. Fusion of magnetic centers can take place on either "path." Given that STS always takes the easiest way out, it is easy to understand that they would do it by turning inward and achieving a subjective magnetic center. Doing the difficult and laborious work required to fuse the magnetic centers in the STO network, is joyful and excitingly challenging. Here, flocks of birds come to mind again.

Before I close this section, I want to include something I found in Noah where Laura writes:

The reader will be far more aware of what it means to 'think with a hammer, rather than with a brain' by the time they are finished with this volume, because we are going to describe the necessary processes in detail further on. But for the moment, suffice it to say that the old master is pointing out that until a certain 'initiation' has occurred in terms of achieving mental mastery over the tracks of emotional thinking (and nearly all thinking is emotional, no matter how logical it may seem), there is no possibility of understanding Fulcanelli. Further, this process of 'rewiring' the brain by deliberate hammer blows of the will against the programmed circuits is the 'heating of the crucible' of the alchemical transformation - the thing that produces the 'stone', a particular 'state' that comes to exist in the brain of the individual who has repeatedly 'hammered' their thinking. And indeed, iron plays a part.

Then this,

The 'clash' of ideas is an expression of 'thinking with a hammer'. The cathedral, the 'building', is the 'temple', in other words, the temporal lobes of the brain - the ability to think and later to see. The 'Book' is what is accepted fact and history. Fulcanelli says that one must be 'indifferent to theories, systems and hypotheses, which are generally accepted without question on the testimony of books'. It is in the clash between that which is generally accepted, that which is published in books, which is accepted due to emotional programs of the amygdala, and the thinking processes of the frontal cortex, that the LIGHT BURSTS FORTH IN THE MAGNETITE THAT COLLECTS IN THE TEMPORAL LOBES as a result of repeated "heating" of the crucible by thinking with a hammer. One has to chisel away the barriers to truth, one hammer blow at a time. And it is a long, arduous, and difficult work.

So, by "thinking with a hammer" (which are those little "shocks" we continually expose ourselves to in the Quantum Future School, challenging ourselves to discern between subjective knowledge/states and Objective Knowledge/states, putting “sacred cows” out to pasture, we "heat the crucible". The crucible is the brain, and the magnetite is heated by the electricity that is generated by our neurons when we are challenged by a thought or series of thoughts that are the Truth/Objective Knowledge as opposed to subjective assumptions. And then, when we UTILIZE that Knowledge, when we act on objective knowledge in a subjective world, it seems that we literally generate light. Indeed then, looking at it this way, Knowledge IS Light! Knowledge creates Light – if it is utilized [See May 31, 1997 session: http://www.cassiopaea.org/sessions/970531.html ]. So, if we are persistent and continually heat this crucible - our brains - with Objective Knowledge/Truth until we have completely fused our magnetic centers - and do this TOGETHER as a unit, a group, one entity - all of these fused magnetic centers in our brains - all aligned in one direction - toward objective truth - a group can then act as a 4th density being IN the 3rd density reality - a "Macro Magnetic Center", if you will - which will then provide the "window", the "escape hatch" to fourth density. A means by which we can "catch the Wave" - and/or "attract" it, as the case may be. As the C's once remarked:

07-19-97
Q: I also found the Solloi priesthood and the priestesses called Peleiades. They seem to be involved with urns, birds, tinkling bells, urns that can be struck and which then set up a particular resonance in other urns, oak trees, and some other peculiar references that relate to laurel trees...
A: Siren song.
Q: What about the siren song?
A: Greek mythology.
Q: I know that. What about it? What do the sirens represent?
A: Laura, my dear, if you really want to reveal "many beautiful and amazing things," all you need to do is remember the triad, the trilogy, the trinity, and look always for the triplicative connecting clue profile. Connect the threes... do not rest until you have found three beautifully balancing meanings!! Q: So, in everything there are three aspects? A: And why? Because it is the realm of the three that you occupy. In order to possess the keys to the next level, just master the Third Man Theme, then move on with grace and anticipation.

08-16-97
Q: Well, I am lost in a sea of puzzle pieces and I have not even begun to try to assemble them!
A: Step by step.
Q: We have the phoenix, cranes, herons, doves, ravens, and all are related somehow to speech or writing. Why are all thes birds related this way?
A: Pass the test.
Q: What do you mean 'pass the test?'
A: Discover.
Q: Well, writing is related to the words for cutting and inscribing and even shearing and sharks. You called the Etruscans 'Penitant Avian Lords,' who were also 'Templar Carriers.' Is this related to these bird images? Then related to speech, writing and shearing?
A: Pass the test.
Q: So, if you are writing, and you pass the test, then you can be a phoenix, dove or whatever?
A: Discover.

And what can "writing" mean? "Inscribing Truth" in our brains, aligning the "bars" of magnetite, heating the crucible by walking through the fire of this 3rd density world.

A: Interesting that they should mention "barbeque", as the lines described could very well denote the effects of the "grill" after one's face has been pressed upon it, while the fires burned underneath!
Q: What would be the source of such fires? The nature of the fires?
A: Firewalkers could tell you that.
Q: What is the nature of the grill? IS IT AN EXTERNAL IRON OBJECT, OR AN INTERNAL EFFECT OF IRON?
A: BOTH.
Q: Why would this be represented as dark lines across the face?
A: When one is shamed, one is no longer seen, ONLY SEES....
Q: Are you saying that this is a representation of hiding one's face in shame?
A: MORE LIKE BEING HIDDEN.

As Laura quoted Hedsel and Ovason in The Wave from The Way of the Fool:

MH: I set out to learn how to be a Fool.
OM: No, you set out the follow the Way of the Fool. There is a difference. And what is the result of such a journey? The result is a wise Fool. A fool is the one who gives up everything for an idea. The wise Fool is the one who knows that he never had anything to give up in the first place. Is that Foolish? ...Now, what is the difference between an old Fool and a young Fool?
MH: Is it commitment? The old man has committed himself, while the young one has not?
OM: Yes, exactly so. The old man has committed himself. He has made a stand. Life has made him do that. He has drawn a circle around himself, and said, "This is where I stand, this is what I must do." He has committed himself to an action. Because he has drawn a circle around himself, others can see where he stands. He can be attacked by others. His position is weak. Those who have not committed themselves can mock, if they are so inclined. The one who has committed himself appears to be in a weak position. Yet the Spiritual truth is quite otherwise. It is the one who accepts commitment who is strong. The true commitment is the artistic one. This is why artists are so often attacked. They are attacked for their morals, for their ideas - even for their work. Yet their essence - their commitment - is the secret which is unassailable. The true artist knows that creativity is its own reward. Ordinary people fear commitment, you see. Ordinary people fear creativity. They know that if they allow that seething cauldron of yellow liquid to boil over within themselves, then their whole lives will be changed. People fear change. People do not wish to be creative and artistic in any real sense. They wish to decorate, perhaps, and to make things around themselves pleasant - but this has little to do with creativity. All spiritual paths should be creative. Creativity is involved with sacrifice. That stew of yellow liquid which boils in everyone is a sacrificial broth...
MH: The sulphur?
OM: Yes, the sulphur. The first of the Three Principles. It is in a sacrificial cauldron. It is an excess. Creativity is Spiritual delight, and overpouring of sulphur. Some time ago you asked me about the word sulphur. We both agreed that Fulcanelli was right, and alchemical sulphur is the equivalent of the sexual energies in man and woman. The sexual energies may come out in a selfish way or in a creative way. Jakob Boehme saw the division in the word sulphur in a slightly different way. He divided the word itself, and said Sul was the soul of a thing, the oil. The Sul is born of the phur, the light. ...Have you ever looked at spilt oil? Under certain conditions it can look like a thin filament of a rainbow. This is the light imprisoned in the oil. The light rises upwards. It liberates the rainbow. It is as simple as that.
MH: Then all creative activity must be "foolish?" In which case, thinking must be "foolish?"
OM: Perhaps thinking is "foolish." Certain forms of thinking undoubtedly are "foolish." After all, most people are vulnerable in their ideas: they fear to think for themselves. The Fool learns to think for himself: he or she makes it an exercise of the soul. Others refuse that Way. This is why our civilization is so under threat. We are living in a world where every effort is being made to ensure that the body is comfortable, yet little is done for the growing soul.
MH:Creativity is itself, a form of selflessness?
OM: Exactly so. Creativity is the giving away of Spiritual energy. Creativity is the soul in the expenditure of a bottomless purse. One gives sulphur away - initially perhaps, through an excess of joy - that is the foolishness of the young. Later, one gives away energy through commitment to an idea. Creativity is the ultimate deed of unselfishness. When a man knows that creativity is its own reward... Well, then he is ready to work with people.You think of yourself as a loner. You do not see how much you are needed. You are needed to point the way.
MH: But I know nothing!
OM: You do not believe that when you sit before a group you do so alone? You are there as a representative of the spiritual world. Fools like myself become teachers, because we find suddenly that there is no one else. It's as simple as that. You realize how great is the gulf between you and others. There is a curtain between you. And you understand that this curtain is good for neither of you. The house out there is burning. You can see the flames, but those others cannot see the flames. ... Now the question is, can you leave those people in the flames? Would it not be the act of a Fool to snatch one, or perhaps two, out of the conflagration?
MH: If that is what they want.
OM: They cannot see the flames, but they do not wish to be burned. You see. You know that there are two sorts of flame. There is the soft and slow flame of the inner heat, and that terrible burning flame which consumes, and which feels no human pain. ...You cannot continue widening the gap between yourself and the world, What for others is light is for the Teacher an old light - another word for darkness.We live in a foolish paradox, for while we have forever, we do not have much time. [Hedsel, 2000]

If one group can work this way and truly achieve 4th density understanding and action in the 3rd density reality, it makes it more likely that other groups can achieve the same in a manner similar to the 100th monkey, though not precisely in the way that most people understand the story (see below).

Links to studies indicating the presence of magnetite in the human brain:

http://www.biophysics.uwa.edu.au/magnetite.html

http://www.biophysics.uwa.edu.au/abstracts.magnetite.html

http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/stm/magnetite.html

Links/info on Monument Valley

http://www.desertusa.com/monvalley/du_muv_desc.html
 
Monument Valley is not a valley at all, but rather a wide, flat landscape interrupted by colorful red buttes and spires rising hundreds of feet into the air. These are the last remnants of the sedimentary rock layers that once covered the entire region. Monument Valley is contained entirely within the Navajo reservation, occupying both Utah and Arizona. This is one of the most remarkable, beautiful and famous landscapes in the world, early recognized by Hollywood as a stunning background for western films.

Cultural History
Native Peoples
Ice Age Paleo-Indian hunters occupied the Monument Valley area between 12,000 and 6,000 BC. Archaic hunter-gatherers left evidence between 6,000 BC and the Christian Era. Anasazi farmers arrived about the beginning of the Christian Era and suddenly disappeared around 1300. Because of their unique pottery styles, they are called the Kayenta Anasazi. As early as the 1300s, San Juan Band Paiutes frequented the area as temporary hunters and gatherers. They named it "Valley or Treeless Area Amid the Rocks" and ascribed supernatural powers to the area. For example, Totem Pole Rock is said to be a god held up by lightning, El Capitan a sky-supporter, and all of Monument Valley near Goulding's Trading Post a hogan that faces east.

Geology
Monument Valley sits atop the crest of a wide anticline, the Monument Upwarp. These beautiful layers of sandstone, siltstone and shale were deposited here in ancient times and were buried for millennia until, like the rest of the Colorado Plateau, it was uplifted and folded. The REDDISH HUES in the sand and rock of the valley are due to IRON OXIDE (i.e. MAGNETITE); the black streaks of desert varnish are manganese oxide.

Eroded by wind and rain, soft red shale undermines the stronger, vertically-jointed sandstone, producing the many buttes and pinnacles. The buttes and pinnacles of Monument Valley are composed of Permian-age (270 million years ago) Cedar Mesa Sandstone. The slopes at their bases are usually composed of Halgaito shale, while many of the spires have caprocks of red Organ Rock shale, also from the Permian period.

Volcanic activity subsequently occurred in areas surrounding the Uplift, releasing molten rock from underneath. The only remnants of the many volcanoes are the hardened cores (igneous dikes) whose scattered silhouettes tower in the distance. El Capitán, as Kit Carson called it, or Algathla, "the place of the animal hides," as the Navajo call it, is one of the most prominent volcanic monoliths. It rises 1,500 feet at the south end of the Monument Valley Uplift. Alhambra Rock is another igneous dike; it protrudes above the surface north of Monument Pass.

http://www.desertusa.com/nav/index.html
 
Navajo National Monument features well-preserved ruins of villages left behind about 1300 by prehistoric Pueblo Indians -- the Kayenta Anasazi. Built and occupied for only 50 years, the ruins represent the final settlement of farmers who adapted to the area's scarce rainfall to grow crops, build houses and raise families, then mysteriously move on.

The Hundredth Monkey
Researched by James Gregory

Most people are familiar with the story of "The Hundredth Monkey." Lyall Watson first told it in "Lifetide," but its most widely-known version is in the book "The Hundredth Monkey" by Ken Keyes. For those of you who don't know it, the story goes like this: The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years. One of their favorite foods was the sweet potato. In 1952, an 18-month-old female named Imo on the island of Koshima found she could solve the annoying problem of sand on her potatoes by washing them before eating them. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way from her and they taught their mothers. Before the eyes of the scientists, this cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys, and by 1958 all of the young monkeys on the island had learned to wash sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. In the autumn of 1958, a critical number of Koshima monkeys, estimated at 99, were washing sweet potatoes, and on the day that the hundredth monkey learned to wash potatoes, something startling took place -- the habit of washing sweet potatoes jumped over the sea and instantly colonies of monkeys on other islands and on the mainland began washing their sweet potatoes as well!

Elaine Myers, a writer living in Washington State and a regular contributer to IN CONTEXT MAGAZINE, found the premise -- that an ideological breakthrough occurs when enough individuals in a population adopt a new idea or behavior allowing this new awareness to be communicated directly from mind to mind without the connection of external experience -- to be very appealing and believable. The concept of Jung's collective unconscious, and the biologists' morphogenetic fields offer parallel stories that help strengthen this strand of our imaginations. The more widespread these fields are, the greater their influence on the physical level of reality. We sometimes refer to the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon (HMP) when we need supporting evidence of the possibility of an optimistic scenario for the future, such as a future based on peace instead of war -- if enough of us would just think the right thoughts.

However, when Myers went back to the original research cited by Watson, she did not find the same story that he tells. Where he claims to have had to improvise details, the reports are quite precise, and they do not support the "ideological breakthrough" phenomenon. At first, she was disappointed; but as she delved deeper into the research, she found a growing appreciation for the lessons the real story of these monkeys have for us.

Up until 1958, Keyes' description follows the research quite closely, although not all the young monkeys in the troop learned to wash the potatoes. By March, 1958, 15 of the 19 young monkeys (aged two to seven years) and 2 of the 11 adults were washing sweet potatoes. Up to this time, the propagation of the innovative behavior was on an individual basis, along family lines and playmate relationships. Most of the young monkeys began to wash their potatoes when they were one to two and a half years old. Males older than 4 years, who had little contact with the young monkeys, did not acquire the behavior.

By 1959, sweet potato washing was no longer a new behavior to the group. Monkeys that had acquired the behavior as juveniles were growing up and having their own babies. This new generation of babies learned sweet potato washing behavior through the normal cultural pattern of the young imitating their mothers. By January 1962, almost all the monkeys on Koshima Island, except those adults born before 1950, were observed to be washing their sweet potatoes. If an individual monkey had not started to wash sweet potatoes by the time he was an adult, he was unlikely to learn it later, regardless of how widespread it became among the younger members of the troop.

In the original reports, there was no mention of the group passing a critical threshold that resulted in the idea being imparted to the entire troop. The older monkeys remained steadfastly ignorant of the new behavior. Likewise, there was no mention of widespread sweet potato washing in other monkey troops. There was mention of occasional sweet potato washing by individual monkeys in other troops, but Myers thinks there are other simpler explanations for such occurrences -- if there was an Imo in one troop, there could be Imo-like monkeys in other troops.

Instead of an example of the spontaneous transmission of ideas, Myers thinks the story of the Japanese monkeys is a good example of the propagation of a paradigm shift, as in Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." Truly innovative points of view tend to come from those on the edge between youth and adulthood. The older generation continues to cling to the world view they grew up with. The new idea does not become universal until the older generation withdraws from power, and a younger generation matures within the new point of view. It is also an example of the way that simple innovations can lead to extensive cultural change. By using water in connection with their food, the Koshima monkeys began to exploit the sea as a resource in their environment. Sweet potato washing led to wheat washing, and then to bathing behavior and swimming, and the utilization of sea plants and animals for food.

What does this say about morphogenetic fields and the collective unconscious? Not very much. There may well be a "critical mass" required to shift a new behavior from a fragile personal idiosyncrasy to being a well-established alternative, but creating a new alternative does not automatically displace older alternatives. It just provides more choices. What the research does suggest, however, is that positive ideas are not sufficient by themselves to change the world. We still need direct communication between individuals, we need to translate our ideas into action, and we need to recognize the freedom of choice of those who choose alternatives different from our own.

(Sources: Elaine Myers, IN CONTEXT, Spring/85; Markus Pössel and Ron Amundson, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, May-June/96)

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